


Happy Father's Day! (June 17, 2018)

by Ranchod_Tunnell



Category: Free!
Genre: Arguing, F/M, Father's Day, Happy Ending, Misunderstandings, Reader-Insert, Rin Takes It As Well As You Would Expect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:19:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranchod_Tunnell/pseuds/Ranchod_Tunnell
Summary: It's a day Rin obviously does not have any good feelings for. Let's see if you're not able to change that with a lovely surprise. :)





	Happy Father's Day! (June 17, 2018)

**Author's Note:**

> My first holiday fic ever!!! \o/  
> I don't usually write these. I'm not really a fluffy writer and I feel like you sort of have to be when you're doing these kinds of things (or at least _I_ like reading the fluffy ones :D)...but I like to experiment and this one was so fitting and it came to me on time! Normally they don't! But anyway! Here's a Father's Day Special featuring the lovely Rin Matsuoka! 
> 
>  
> 
> ~~(I feel like Makoto should have one, too, but unfortunately no creative juices flow when he comes to mind. Ah well.)~~

He had practice today. He couldn’t skip it. He _wouldn’t_ skip it. Not only because his father wouldn’t have but also because Rin himself didn’t want to. That’d mean admitting defeat and that was never something Rin was good at.

He knew this day was coming. There was nothing he could do to stop it. He knew he shouldn’t keep trying to avoid it--it’s been years now—

But something was still wrong.

The motivation was the same. His coaches were the same. His teammates were the same. Nothing had changed. Nothing. Except the mentality. 

Everyone was thinking about their fathers. They kept talking about it and asking about it and making plans and smiling and laughing and reminiscing--it grinded on his nerves. Shredded his concentration. His movements were sloppy. His focus continuously strayed and he couldn’t get into the rhythm no matter how hard he pushed himself. By the time he was allowed to go, his patience was shot.

Not because his father was gone. (He’d liked to think he’d grown passed such childish thoughts.) No, it was just this day changed nothing for Rin. _Every_ day was Father’s Day for him. Not a day went by when he didn’t think about the man and it was difficult enough sometimes to keep pressing forward in the name of someone who would never be there to watch him go without the whole world riding the coattails of his bandwagon.

All those parades and parties and decorations—tossed around so frivolously so mindlessly as if that’s all it took. As if that were enough. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d wished it was that simple.

He wasn’t bitter. He _wasn’t_. Not anymore but he also couldn’t celebrate today.

Tomorrow he’d be fine. Everyone would go back to thinking about themselves and his devices would be his own once again and it wouldn’t be a problem until some time next year. Until then…

 

“I should still probably get Russell and her dad something,” he murmured to himself when he came home to silence. He didn’t expect you to be home. You usually returned after his practices let out and he suspected you’d be even later considering your own father was still around. No one who really knew the redhead would expect him tonight. He knew as much and he reciprocated their understanding by not demanding anyone change their views for him. He could meet them halfway.

 

The dog’s sudden movement drew his attention to the entryway. The muffled jangle of keys eased any concerns he might’ve had about who was on the other side. He stepped out into the hall, sandwich in hand, to greet you when the door opened.

Your smile was instantaneous. Rin felt his shoulders sag in relief at the soothing balm it drenched his heart in, “Hey, there! How are you? How was practice?”

 

“Fine.” It wasn’t a lie. He would be in a couple hours more. “You’re home early. How was work?”

 

He quirked a brow when you turned your face away from receiving a kiss. It landed on your cheek instead.

 

“You’ll taste like tuna fish.” He huffed a laugh and purposefully took a huge bite. You shook your head in amusement as you used his arm to balance you while you removed your shoes. “And I didn’t go in today. I had a doctor’s appointment.”

 

A frown pulled at his mouth. You didn’t tell him that. You couldn’t have. He’d surely have remembered and he’d have gone with you. “You okay?”

 

“Oh, I’m fine,” you waved a hand flippantly through the air as you strolled away, pulling off bits of clothing as you went. He tried not to get irritated by it. You shed your uncomfortable outside clothes every single day after work. It was a routine that only bothered him now because his own reservoir of patience had already dried up. “It was just a checkup.”

 

He hummed noncommittally and drifted away back into the kitchen. Dinner would need to get started soon…

 

“Happy Father’s Day by the way!”

 

Time stopped.

His blood swung between wanting to bubble and boil and wanting to freeze his heart to ice. His entire body tensed and squeezed as if he’d just been thrust through a wormhole to another dimension and really that would make more sense considering the words he’d just heard delivered in such a cruelly chipper tone. His throat cinched so tight the words could barely make it out.

 

“That’s not funny.” He could feel the moisture gathering across his eyes. It was one thing to soldier on in public. It was another to be accosted in your own home.

 

There was a beat of silence and then your footsteps approached. Rin felt his stomach twist in knots. He didn’t want to see you right now, “Rin, I didn’t--”

 

“Didn’t what?” He wasn’t yelling. Not yet. But he needed something to distract you from the tears in his eyes, from the hurt in his voice. “You know how I feel about today. Why would you say that? You can’t have forgotten that my father is _dead_ since the last time your dad asked to meet him.”

 

“I _do_ remember--”

 

Oh, he knew. That had been entirely rhetorical and yet somehow hearing you confirm it just made everything worse. At least if you hadn’t he could have pacified himself by pretending to blame your bad memory. Now, there was no excuse for your blatant disregard for his feelings. And he must’ve said that out loud because your eyes narrowed and you said, “I’m _not_ ignoring how you feel but, Rin, it’s been _years_. I thought--”

 

His eyes widened incredulously at the start of your defense. You couldn’t possibly be getting ready to say what he thought you were. You just couldn’t. What kind of person were you? How had he allowed himself to fall so far for you? Was love really _this_ blinding? “You don’t get over someone _dying_ , [Name]! You _deal_ with it. You _live_ with it but you don’t _forget_ it! What if _your_ father--”

 

And right then and there he knew he’d gone too far. He saw your anger flare in your nostrils and the dangerous dilating of your pupils and he didn’t care two bits about either one of them, “Do _not_ go there. Why would you wish that on someone-”

 

Rin nearly balked at the implication. The words must’ve come out wrong. His English wasn’t flawless yet after all. Even still, there was no way he was going to let you make him out to be the bad guy here, “I’m not wishing for it! I’d never do that! To anyone! What is _wrong_ with you?! I’m just trying to get you to understand--”

 

“‘What’s wrong with me?’” You liked those words even less than the ones he’d uttered before. “What the fuck’s wrong with you?!” Rin winced at the rise in octaves. At this point the window for having a calm discussion had passed, especially since you’d gone and dropped curse words. Well, whatever. If that was the way you wanted it… “What happened that’s got you so--”

 

“Don’t bring this around to me. _You’re_ the one who can’t seem to figure out what’s the proper thing to say out your damn mouth.”

 

Your chin tilted up as you just barely kept yourself from reeling back. Like a switch the incredulity transformed into rage and you stepped forward challengingly, “Wow, that’s fuckin’ rich coming from you. Look at what you just said--!”

 

His lips parted and he knew when he felt a foreign grip around the girth of his throat that he’d been about to say something he wouldn’t easily be able to return from. He didn’t want to as much as he _did_. Such conflicting notions left him with little to do but storm passed you in search of solitude, “ _Fuck this shit_.”

 

“Don’t start speaking in a different language! You foreigners piss me off with that bull shit! Like I can’t figure out what the fuck you’re saying to me—Google!--” Your rant was solidly interrupted by the front door slamming.

 

He didn’t keep track of how long or how far he ran he just kept at it until his stamina was drained and his vision had become too blurry for it to be safe to keep going. His legs were numb and he didn’t have any strength left to keep his cries at bay any longer.

His phone rang.

He didn’t answer.

He didn’t want to talk.

It rang a few more times. He ignored them still.

The jingle switched. He had text messages now.

That was better. He could read. He could maybe respond, too, depending on what was said but he wouldn’t trust his convulsing throat to hold a conversation. He couldn’t let you win. He’d done more than enough losing for today.

 It wasn’t you.

It was your sister. Your mother. _His_ mother. And then his sister.

He groaned and grabbed a fist full of his maroon hair as he sank to the ground.

He couldn’t do this.

This was too much.

He just wanted to go home and go to sleep and pretend that today never happened and now you’ve gone and turned it into some family spectacle. Who would call him next? Your father? Your best friend? _His_ best friends? _Haru_?!

…Okay so maybe he was being a little melodramatic but still! There was no reason for people across the ocean to be involved in his relationship. The outrage momentarily chased away the hurt and he found his fingers dialing Gou back before he could stop himself.

 

“What do you want--”

 

“Oniichan, what are you doing?” She sighed exasperatedly as if _he_ were the one being unreasonable.

 

“What’s with that tone? No one told you to get involved!”

 

“What are you talking about--”

 

“[Name] called you, didn’t she? Don’t lie. I _know_ she did--”

 

“Oh, wow, oniichan, calm down a little, will you?”

 

Rin pulled the phone away from his ear and just stared at it for a moment. The _nerve_ of the people in his life! He should just cut them all off. He had a fairly decent throwing arm. He was sure he could toss this thing far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to find it again…But first he had to make sure he hadn’t completely lost his mind. He brought the phone back up to his ear, interrupting whatever it was his sister was trying to say to him, “Do you know what today is?”

 

“…Ahm…Sunday, June 17th--”

 

“It’s Father’s Day, Gou.”

 

“Oh, yes, I know! Did she tell you yet?! I can’t imagine you’d be fighting if she did. Oh, Rin, unless you don’t…Oh, that’s really bad! You should be ashamed of yourself! You have to go back home and apologize!”

 

“ _Why_?! So she can keep spouting nonsense about how I should have gotten over Dad by now?!”

 

“…She didn’t say that--”

 

“She _did_!” He insisted at the uncertainty clogging her words.

 

“Well, I’m…I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way.”

 

“How would you know? You weren’t here--”

 

“No, but I _do_ know she’s pregnant and hearing the way she talked about it, well, I don’t understand English so well but she didn’t sound like the kind of bitch who’d say something like that after talking so kindly about becoming a mother…”

 

“…” For the second time today, Rin felt like he’d just been catapulted on an out-of-body experience. By the time he got back, he could only vaguely hear Gou calling his name questioningly over and over again through cotton in his ears. “She’s…She’s what?”

 

“Oh! You’re still there! That’s good. I thought the line had dropped or something--”

 

“…She’s pregnant…?”

 

“Yes! She told us this morning after they ran her blood test. Well, technically she told her mom who told _our_ mom who told me because she couldn’t tell you because it was supposed to be a secret and technically _none_ of us in Japan were supposed to know because _you_ were supposed to be the one to tell us but…well, I guess the surprise is all--”

 

“Gou…I’ve…I’ve gotta go.”

 

Damn if only he hadn’t wasted all his energy running away, he could have _been_ back by now…As it was his muscles were absolute jelly and his clothes stuck to him so harshly he might as well had of just come from the pool and his chest burned and his mouth was dry and his sight was bleary and he was surely dehydrated—why hadn’t he just called an Uber?—but none of it mattered—none of it--when he finally burst through to front door again an hour later and stumbled through the house, searching for you.

He found you in the bedroom, curled up against the headboard with the TV on (Damn! you’d started the new season without him. Fuck! Well, he supposed he deserved that…), a book in one hand, your phone in the other, and a plate full of the crumbs of what looked suspiciously like remains of the sandwiches he’d made for himself earlier cradled in your lap. You gazed up at him coolly—eyes clear of any tell-tale pink puffiness to indicate crying, no stress lines in your forehead to mark lasting anger—before looking away, “Hi, Rin.”

 

“…Hi, [Name],” he sighed at last after struggling for a good two minutes to find something acceptable to say. Your mouth pulled a little at the corners—you were having a similar struggle then—but you refused to close the distance. Somehow that was okay. Rin felt himself quite subconsciously smiling as he gazed at you.

His attention was immediately drawn to your abdomen. There was nothing to see yet and even if there was the blankets would most certainly have obscured the view but still…just knowing what was _there_ …

 

“ _What?_ ” You snapped when he only continued to stare.

 

“Gou told me,” he blurted out and finally found the incentive to approach. You scowled.

 

“She shouldn’t’ve had to. _I_ was telling you,” you began as he slowly sprawled across the bed and removed the plate from your lap. Rin sighed and laid his head in the new vacancy, pressing his nose into your stomach to hide the grin that just would _not_ stop growing not matter how he tried to reign it in. “And you’re _so_ lucky I can’t kick your ass right now. That’s the _only_ reason I’m even tolerating your...whatever this is right now.”

 

“I’m sorry…I really _really_ am but that _wasn’t_ a good way to tell me something like this, [Name]…”

 

“What better way was there? How else could I get you to associate good things with today? So what, I was supposed to wait until next week? No, I don’t care what you say. Today was perfect.”

 

Ah, so that’s what it was. He felt something settle into place within his soul. Everything suddenly felt right again. He nuzzled into you gently, “…Yeah. Yeah, it really was.”

 

 “Only maybe we’ll only think so 20 years from now when we’re _not_ still pissed at each other over everything that happened.”

 

You snorted a short laugh and bent your head down to kiss his hair…

…only to recoil.

 

“You’re nasty and sweaty. Get off and go take a shower,” you complained as you pulled yourself out from underneath him and floated away to the kitchen with your dishes. He chuckled and rolled over onto his side to watch you leave, the beginnings of a plan for his marriage proposal solidifying in his mind, as the dog jumped up beside him to take your place.

 

You hadn’t forgiven him yet and while he wasn’t angry anymore he couldn’t say that everything was alright again. There was a great deal to work out and yet Rin was optimistic because for the very first time in his life, he couldn’t wait until next year when he would have yet _another_ special someone to redefine the pain in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> This was not my best work and I wasn't going to ever post it let alone write it up. It actually came to me maybe a week and a half ago and I was going to just pass it off as a plot bunny I'd never get to use but it kept nagging at me and nagging and nagging some more until I just couldn't _not_ write it so! I hope you enjoyed this speed-writing exercise (that's what I'm going to call it considering it took only two and a half hours) and I wish you a marvelous holiday no matter what it means for you. See you next time!


End file.
